The Rest of Forever
by Elma MacBetsy
Summary: What if halfway through New Moon when Bella meets Laurent in the meadow, the werewolves had just been a bit later?


**The Rest of Forever**

**This was my first Twilight fic. I had been intending for it to have multiple chapters, but the fact of the matter is that after about the first half of this story (what was originally posted) I ran out of ideas. However, I didn't want to leave it incomplete, so I've made some changes and it is now a one-shot. **

**It was originally written before Eclipse and Breaking Dawn came out.**

**Just in case it isn't clear, it's set about half way through New Moon, when Bella meets Laurent in the meadow and realises he'd evil.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own it. What more can I say?**

As I stared into the red of the eyes I was looking into, I couldn't believe I had been so stupid. I had just been talking to Laurent like he was an old friend. It had never occurred to me that he hadn't given up human blood after all. I needed to distract him and… and… Inwardly I laughed bitterly. What _was_ I planning to do? Hope that Edward would return in the nick of time to save me and carry me off into the sunset?

"Did Victoria ever find you?" I nearly cringed at the question. Great going! The perfect thing to ask the evil vampire who was probably going to kill me. Luckily, it did work. He paused his journey towards me to answer.

"Yes. I actually came here as a favour to her." He sighed and shook his head, a mildly concerned frown crossing his face. "She won't be happy about this."

"A-About what?" I asked, grasping at a chance to further prolong his attack. His face immediately hardened.

"About me killing you. She wanted that part for herself."

"W-What?"

"Well you're Edward Cullen's mate, and he killed James. He was Victoria's mate, in case you were wondering. She wants a sort of trade. Mate for mate. That kind of deal. But see… You do smell really good… So I'm going to do you a favour and kill you myself." I gasped. He really was going to kill me. And there was no one to save me this time. I was alone.

"How is that a favour?" I squeaked out, almost outraged.

"Believe me…anything I do to you will be a hundred times better than what Victoria's planning." My anger soon dissipated, replaced with fear again.

"Don't do this" I pleaded, my voice sounding pathetic even to my own ears. Laurent frowned.

"Bella, don't make this difficult. I really _am_ doing you a favour…"

He took the last few steps it took for him to stand right in front of me. I desperately tried to even out my breathing but to no avail. Laurent lifted his hand and gently stroked my cheek, and then let it drift down to my neck which he rubbed for a few seconds, pushing my hair out the way as he did so. He tilted my head so that my neck was completely bared to his gaze, and mouth. My heart raced as he lowered his head and I gasped as I felt knife edge of his teeth enter my throat. This was it. I was going to die. Shouldn't I be scared? But no, I realized in a sudden wave of clarity, dying wasn't something to fear; it was to be embraced. Any ties I may have to my life were meaningless without Edward. This would end my suffering. It would be over. _But_, a small voice in my mind put in, _what if it hurts?_

I could feel the familiar burning of vampire venom leaking into my veins, my head beginning to spin slightly. He must have been drinking faster than I'd thought. It occurred to me how surprisingly little pain there was. Then there was a noise, loud thud that I couldn't place, and I probably would have screamed had I been breathing as Laurent's teeth were torn from my neck, turning the crescent shaped bite into a much longer gash. I dropped to the ground heavily, drinking in oxygen and praying that I wouldn't faint. I shakily raised my hand to my throat. The minute I touched it, the lingering burning sensation became suddenly more acute and began to spread to the rest of my body. The beginning of my transformation had started. In three painful days I would be like Edward. Only Edward wouldn't be there. And without him the idea of eternity frightened me like nothing else in the world.

Before the flames completely overtook me, one last stray thought entered my mind: Why had Laurent stopped? I struggled to move so that I might be able to see if he was still there. Instead of the dark haired vampire I was expecting, I saw a huge wolf with reddish fur. It looked at me with big, dark, sorrow-filled eyes, and even through the torrents of pain rushing through my body, I thought clearly of Jacob. And after that, I felt nothing but the burning agony, no other thought managing to break through the blazing darkness.

Afterwards, I respected Carlisle even more than I had before. I now knew what it was like to experience the turn alone. Like him, I now had no idea what to do. I was a vampire now. God knows how many times before I had dreamed of becoming one, but it had never been like this. Without Edward, I had no idea what to do. I knew I couldn't go back to Charlie and live my life in Forks. I would have to leave, but where would I go? I didn't know how to control the blood lust that I was sure I would experience. I was relying on Edward and the rest of the Cullens to help me through that.

A burning at the back of my throat, making me swallow convulsively, alerted me to the fact that I needed to find some kind of living creature. I could only hope that whatever I first came across was of the non-human variety. A part of me, a strong part of me, desperately wanted to go back to Forks, not for a massacre, but to go _home_. To see my dad. To tell him everything, and in return hear him tell me that everything would be ok, just like if I hurt myself when I was younger, which I did, quite frequently. But the thought of hurting someone, especially Charlie, sickened me.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what else to do though. Or at least, not in the long run. I knew that there were other vampires like the Cullens further North, but I didn't have the faintest idea where to find them. No, it simply wasn't possible to get to them. Until I had a better idea, I would have to stay here. Surely the forest could sustain a vampire. I looked around absently, barely noticing my hugely improved vision, half expecting some kind of wild animal to just appear. Of course, I knew that wasn't how it worked. I needed to _hunt _for the food. I just hoped to God it came naturally, because I really didn't see myself being that good at hunting. Was it by sight? Smell? Sound? Taste? I didn't even know how to start. I groaned as I collapsed back down onto the ground again. Things were so much easier when I was still human. When it was dinner time, everything was easy to find, in cupboards, the fridge or the freezer. As long as Charlie liked it…

I jumped up suddenly. Somewhere at the back of my mind I was amazed at my own speed, but for the most part, I was worried about Charlie.

"He'll have people searching for me, like he did before… It's already been three days! They must have covered the obvious areas… What if they find me? If I don't feed, and they find me…" I voiced my thoughts out loud, shocked to hear just how panicky my now beautiful and lilting voice sounded. "What if they think that wolf-bear thing got me? Charlie might think I'm dead, and he'll tell Renée, and they'll never know that I'm not…" I stopped. "Dead". I finished weakly. I _was_ dead. Or at least according to their definition. And for everyone's safety, that's what everyone would have to think.

And Jacob… He would be so upset when they told him. Unless he already knew. When Laurent was…well when he disappeared and the wolf-bear looked at me…it just felt like Jacob was there, like he was watching me. Maybe it was the look in the thing's eyes. It looked… sad…remorseful, like it wanted t help but knew that it couldn't…but more than anything else, it looked like Jacob. Maybe it was Jacob. Maybe he'd turned into a big dog. I mean, I'd become a vampire. Anything was possible… My thoughts were interrupted when a smell wafted through the air. I breathed it in and sighed. It just smelt so _good_! . Without thinking, I followed the smell at lightning speed as the burning in my throat worsened.

In less than a minute I was quite a fair distance from the meadow. I'd tracked down the area the smell was coming from, but I just couldn't find the _source_. I heard a noise, just the teeniest rustle, and I whipped round. A deer stumbled out from some thicket. It had a large, nasty looking gash across one of its back legs. There was a slight breeze and my wonderful smell appeared again. Then it clicked. The deer! The blood! That was the source! My mouth was watering slightly. That blood… I needed the blood.

My mouth was watering and I just felt a pull, something encouraging me to just give into instinct. So I did. I pounced and in a flash I was on top of the deer, my teeth locked on its back leg after licking up the blood around the wound. It didn't taste as good as it smelled. It was _alright_, but it was just slightly unpleasant. But it was sustenance. And it was hot and sweet and thick as it ran down my throat, dulling the thirst if not actually quenching. It cleared my head a little too, giving me the opportunity to think properly about my situation. I couldn't stay here. Not this close to Forks. Not where I would be found. I had to leave. And now that I was a vampire my need for Edward was just so much _more_ unbearable. Since we were the same his arguments wouldn't hold up anymore.

Conclusion? I would leave Forks. I would find Edward. Hopefully Alice would see this and we'd meet halfway. If not? Well, I had the rest of forever to look for him.

**I made a few amendments after reading Breaking Dawn so the vampire change would be more like it was in the book.**


End file.
